


Lead

by diettcherrysoda



Category: Horizon: Zero Dawn (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Bast Lives, Ersa lives, F/M, GAIA's Subordinate Functions, Post-Canon, Rost Lives, Sporadic Update Schedule, The Lightkeeper Protocol, Vala Lives, eventual original characters - Freeform, more tags to come, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-27
Updated: 2019-07-27
Packaged: 2020-07-20 15:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,350
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19994383
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/diettcherrysoda/pseuds/diettcherrysoda
Summary: After the dust settles, and the wounded are tended to and the dead are counted, Aloy wonders what to do.-What happens post-game, and how those events affect the world.(Read the story notes to see how I'm doing the timeline.)





	Lead

**Author's Note:**

> Okay! So now that I'm pretty much done with the main part of the frozen wilds in my new game plus (I never finished it on my main run), I decided I wanted to write a HZD Post-Canon fic. Some things are a tad different than how the original timeline was probably meant to be, but it follows how I played my NG+. 
> 
> Things to note:  
> -The total time elapsed from the Proving to the first paragraph in this fic is about a year and a half, Aloy having gone and done the entirety of the DLC in the middle of that time. I'm unsure of how long the main quest is in the game, but for my purposes it's taken Aloy the aforementioned amount of time to get everything done.  
> -Aloy has done every errand, side quest and main quest. She has found every recording (audio and text), all collectibles, has every override, skill and inventory upgrades. She's basically 100%-ed the world that surrounds her. She has yet to travel and find Elisabet's body like she does in the end credits.  
> -Ersa survived her wounds and fought in the battle of the spire.  
> -This will be expanded on later, but Teersa gives Aloy the patch/symbol Rost wears and tells her that's all that was left of him. Aloy does not know Rost's history.
> 
> Lastly, updates will probably not be consistent, but they will exist. In the event that HZD2 (granted the game happens) blows this fic up into smithereens, I will still continue to write for it.

After the dust settles, and the wounded are tended to and the dead are counted, Aloy wonders what to do. For so long, finding out anything about and defeating Hades was all the redhead had to go on. Days and weeks spent hunting both machines and game alike as she traveled from point A to B to C, and on and on, all in preparation for the moment she would kill Hades. Now, whether she knew that during the majority of the journey, well... Regardless, Aloy was at a loss.  
  
She stays in Meridian for a while, staying in Olin's old home and making it her own as best she can in between talking to Avad, hanging out with Erend and Ersa, helping Marad with small tasks, hunting with Talanah and training with Vanasha. She's doing a lot, and she's noticed the worried looks coming from her friends - because you don't fight for the survival of the world with several people and _not_ call them friends and fail to notice their expressions.  
  
She's over compensating, but for what?  
  
Well to start, and Aloy's done enough reflecting on this for several lifetimes thank you very much, she feels responsible for endangering the world. Though she knows she's definitely not at fault, she can't help but wonder if there was something she could have done, or said, or fixed or-  
  
Aloy misses Rost.  
  
The realization sucker punches her in the gut, and her eyes well up with tears she only allows to fall because she's still in her bed and alone. She wipes at her face, knowing that she needs to get ready for today. She pulls on some of her warmer armor on, knowing it's starting to get a little colder in Meridian around this time of year, and makes sure she's all packed and her weapons are all firmly affixed to her person. After all, she's leaving today. Not forever of course, much to the comfort of her friends, but she has to leave for her own sanity. At least for right now, at least until she figures out if she can fix GAIA. Aloy's been putting off even thinking about trying for weeks, wanting to have some sense of normalcy, just for a little bit.  
  
She said her goodbyes last night, and Itamen even gave her a beaded bracelet that she's wearing now. Ersa had later on that night asked if she'd ever consider kids, and Aloy just blushed, muttering a 'maybe, but not yet'. Ersa had nodded, and Aloy had seen Ersa's eyes slide over to Avad and give a small shrug when Aloy asked the same of her.  
  
Aloy, now coming up on the exit of town, smiles a little as she recalls how much fun last night had been.  
  
"Aloy!" A familiar deep voice calls, snapping her out of her memory. Erend stands at the exit, looking dressed to travel, and waving as she comes closer. Aloy's smile grows into a wide grin, and she's happy Erend showed up.  
  
"Erend, good to see you showed up. Are you ready to go?" Aloy asks, and Erend nods twice. Aloy hmms, and they set out.  
  
-

They're at the end of The Bitter Climb, their near month journey at an end as they enter GAIA Prime. Over their travels Aloy has done her best to explain to Erend as much as she can, and he's proven to be a bit smarter than she originally took him for.  
  
"So we just have to find instructions to fix the machine lady and then follow them?" Erend asks, and Aloy sighs.  
  
"Yeah, but it's definitely not going to be that easy." She responds, and she's pleased to see the entrance is clean, no trace of Sylens anywhere. That's good news at least, Aloy thinks to herself, and they enter deeper into the facility.  
  
What they find in the facility, specifically where Aloy had found the remains of Sobeck's friends, leads to Aloy stopping dead in her tracks. Erend rushes to her, having been a few paces behind as he let Aloy lead the way in the unfamiliar place. Erend looks to where Aloy's gaze is piercing, and blanks. That man looks a lot like how Aloy's described-  
  
"Rost?" Aloy gasps, confusion and hope battling for control of her expression. The man in question raises his head from what looks like a temporary workstation, the right side of his face heavily scarred. His left eyebrow, and what's left of his right raise nearly to his hairline.  
  
"Aloy?" His voice comes out as a whisper, but he doesn't look angry or disappointed to see her, and Aloy distantly notes he actually looks happy... happy to see her.  
  
"How are you alive?" She asks the man, and he looks back down at his desk. Erend stays quiet, knowing this is a moment Aloy doesn't need his input for, at least not yet. Rost looks back at Aloy and then to the man he does not know, and decides.  
  
"Follow?" Rost phrases the word as a question to both of them, and Erend looks to Aloy for the answer. Aloy nods, and Rost stands. Aloy has had a long time to learn how to school her emotions before they show up on her face, but when Rost comes up to hug her all of that practice seems to throw itself out of her head. Sure, Rost has pat her shoulder before, tended to her wounds when she was too young to insist on doing it herself, but she can not remember a single time in which he's hugged her. She hugs him back, tears stinging her eyes.  
  
Erend's moved back a bit, trying to give them space, and thankfully for Erend's sanity the hug doesn't last as long as it could. When they separate Rost motions for them to follow him to a different room. While they walk, Erend starts a conversation.  
  
"So, I take it you're the Nora who raised Aloy?" He asks, and Rost nods.  
  
"Yes." Rost says simply, and Erend glances at Aloy. Aloy shrugs a tiny bit, unsure of what to say in the wake of seeing the father figure she thought dead.  
  
"Well, I'm Erend, I met Aloy at the Proving. If, uh, if I may, you did a fine job bringing flame-hair up." Erend tries, and Rost starts at the compliment.  
  
"Thank you." Rost says, and Aloy notes they enter a room reminiscent of the room she first saw the image of-  
  
Wait...  
  
Suddenly a voice comes from the ceiling and the walls and pretty much the entire room. Rost doesn't seem fazed by it, information Aloy tucks away for later.  
  
"Query: should I notify the others of Aloy and her guest's arrival?" The voice asks, and Rost sighs.  
  
"I suppose so, though I couldn't begin to guess how Bast is gonna take it." Rost says, and Aloy's eyes widen.  
  
"Bast is alive?" Aloy asks quietly, and Rost nods, gesturing for the two to relax and sit at some of the chairs surrounding a large table.  
  
"Vala too. The three of us were saved by Glinthawks under GAIA's control. It's... a very long story. I'm not entirely sure I understand most of what GAIA's told us, but Bast and Vala sure did." Rost says, and Erend starts.  
  
"That voice was GAIA? Aloy said she wasn't online, whatever that means." He says, and Aloy thinks to herself.  
  
"She wasn't..." Aloy starts, sitting, and GAIA cuts in as Vala and Bast come into the room.  
  
"Query: may I explain, Aloy?" The voice asks the artificial lights dim just so as she materializes in front of them. Erend tries to stay still and quiet, but he's kind of freaking out right now about that. GAIA smiles softly at the two of them, and Erend calms down just a bit. He needs to listen, and the machine isn't a threat as far as Aloy has explained. He sits, just after Vala and Bast sit across from him and Aloy. Rost's already sitting, and Aloy nods at GAIA's form for her to take it away.


End file.
